Warped Tour headed to Irvine's Great Park

Dates for the next annual Vans Warped Tour were revealed Thursday, and this time the itinerary included something we haven't seen in a while: an Orange County stop, June 21 in Irvine.

Where in Irvine exactly? The official Warped Tour site doesn't say; its agenda lists only cities from the June 16 kickoff in Salt Lake City up through the Pacific Northwest finale, Aug. 6 in Portland. However, Pollstar's meticulous tracking of tours, which is rarely mistaken, indicates venues for all but two cities -- and they show that Warped is headed to the Great Park.

Setting aside occasional free-show appearances from the likes of Lucinda Williams or Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the arrival of the perennial punkapalooza-plus-more makes it the first major nationwide tour of such scope to be held on the former Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro.

It's a promising move: As potentially disorganized and/or traffic-clogged as the Great Park might get during this initial foray, it's also a potentially far better spot for Warped than the times the fest has been squished into nooks and crannies surrounding the former Irvine Meadows. Here's hoping it winds up being as ideal a location as Cal State Fullerton was once upon a time.

Who's playing? Inevitably dozens will, but for now, out of 44-and-counting bands so far announced that will take part at one Warped bash or another, all Pollstar shows for that specific Irvine gathering are these: Man Overboard, O.C.-affiliated Blessthefall, Dead Sara, I Am the Avalanche, Sleeping with Sirens and Aussie pop/punk act Tonight Alive. Out of the incomplete list of names revealed thus far, I don't see a headliner. I suspect we're a long way from seeing the full roster.

Then again, the pre-sale for Warped Tour doesn't even start until March 30, with the general on-sale slated for a week later, on April 6. By comparison to all other multi-act attractions, this one never fails to be the cheapest: tickets are rarely more than $30-$40, including fees, if you're sucker enough to get saddled with them. (Avoid by buying at the gate or at punk and vintage shops, among others.)

Naturally, there are other replays nearby, though for a change they all happen in a row, rather than bookending the trip.The day before Irvine, on June 20, the festival takes over the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The day after, June 22, is the usual invasion of the Fairplex at Pomona. June 23 is at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, June 24 at Ventura's Seaside Park, and last is Chula Vista for a June 27 stop at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre.

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